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Japanese Fairy Tale

KACHI-KACHI MOtetfTAIN.

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Published by T, HASEGAWA, 17 Kami Negishi, Tokyo.

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NCE upon a time there was an old farmer who cultivated a field in the mountains. One day his old wife came and brought him his dinner; but a badger stole and eat it. This made the old

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man angry and at last he took the badger alive, carried it home with him, and hung it to a rafter by the feet. Then he said to his wife, "Let us have this badger for soup. Have it well cooked and wait till I come back." Then he went again to the field. His wife was pounding barley in a mortar and singing. In distress the bad- ger said, "If you will only spare my life I will pound the barley for you." As it was indeed in a

sad plight she untied the cord and let it down. Then right away the badger sprang at the old woman and killed her, and made her into soup.

Then he assumed her shape and sat waiting, when the old man re- turned from the field. When he was about to

partake of the soup, the badger assumed his original form, and cried out, "You wife-eating old man you! Did not you see the bones under the floor?" Laughing

derisively it escaped out of doors and disappeared. The old man threw down his chop-sticks and cried long and bitterly. Now in the same mountain there lived an old rabbit. Hearing the voice of

the old man crying, he came and tried £ to comfort him, and said he would him- self avenge the death of the old woman. " First, " he said, " parch me some beans." And the old man parched them. The rab- bit put the parched beans in a pouch and said, "Now to the mountain again;" and away he went. The badger was attracted by the smell, and came and said;

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"Give me about a handful of those beans." This was what the rab- bit was expecting. So he said; "I will if you will carry a bundle of dry-grass for me over to yon mountain." "I will do as you say without fail," replied the bad- ger, "only first give me the beans." He begged importunately, but the rabbit said; "Yes, after you have carried the load of dry-grass." He then put on his back a great

pile of dried-grass and sent the badger on before, while he took out his flint and struck out a

spark, and set the bundle on fire.

The badger alarmed at the noise asked, "what is that?" The rabbit replied; "That is KacU-KacU Mountain."* Soon the fire began to kindle and spread in the dried- grass* The badger,

" Click-Click Mountain, or the Mountain of Victory.

hearing this

again asked, "what is thatf The rabbit replied, "That is Bo-Bo Mountain,"* By this time the fire had spread to the badger's back and burnt it badly. Crying out in pain, he rolled over and shook off his load and ran away out of sight. The rabbit next mixed ^ome sauce and red-pepper and made a

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sticking plaster, put on a hat and set out to sell it as a cure for blisters and burns. The badger was then lying helpless with his

f Crackle Mountain, or Mountain of Defeat

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back all raw and sore. That must be a good medicine, he thought, when he heard of it. So he got some applied to his back. But there is no language to tell how he smarted when the red-pepper sticking plaster was applied to his sore skin. He just rolled over and over and howled long and bitterly. Now after about twenty days the badger's sore was healed. The rabbit was then making a boat, and the badger seeing it asked

awhat are you going to do with this boat? " The rabbit replied, «I intend to catch fish," thus deceiving. The badger felt envious, but was dull Jifflte in that kind of work.

"I too will make a boat of clay," he said. So having made a clay boat he rowed out to sea along with the rabbit. Then the badger's boat began to sink,

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and when it was sinking, the rabbit brandished aloft his oar and struck the badger dead, thus avenging the old man's wife.

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